Japan's Ryuichi Kiyonari leads the way in race one Picture: Andy Payton

Tommy Hill leads the British Superbike Championship after the opening round at Brands Hatch over the Easter weekend.

The Suzuki rider won race one and finished second in an incident-packed race two at the Kent circuit.

Hill faced a tough battle with pole-sitter Ryuichi Kiyonari in the opening race and took the lead after 22 laps. James Ellison finished third.

Ellison took the win in race two, just 0.186 seconds ahead of Hill, who now leads the series going into the next round at Thurxton on April 18.

There were a number of non-finishers from race two with Kiyonari and Gary Mason both retiring with mechanical problems, while Tommy Bridewell crashed out at Druids, Chris Walker and Dan Linfoot tangled at Graham Hill Bend and were unable to continue.

Josh Brookes and Yukio Kagayama also ended the race early after crashing out.

Maidstone’s Steve Mercer, riding a Yamaha, finished 22nd and 14th in the two races for SMR Racing.

Results & Standings;

Standings: 1st: Tommy Hill, 2nd: James Ellison, 3rd: Alastair Seeley, 4th: Stuart Easton, 5th: Ryuichi Kiyonari, 6th: Michael Rutter.

Race 1: 1st: Tommy Hill (Suzuki), 2nd: Ryuichi Kiyonari (Honda), 3rd: James Ellison (Honda), 4th: Alastair Seeley (Suzuki), 5th: Josh Brookes (Honda), 6th: Stuart Easton (Honda).

Race 2: 1st: James Ellison (Honda), 2nd: Tommy Hill (Suzuki), 3rd: Alastair Seeley (Suzuki), 4th: Michael Laverty (Suzuki), 5th: Stuart Easton (Honda), 6th: Michael Rutter (Ducati).